And Now, a Word From Our Sponsor...

On my way to work yesterday, I found three pennies in three blocks -- all heads up. It was my lucky day -- and today is yours. Why? Because we're sharing a sample of some of the latest blogs from the team at SAS, the sponsor of this site.

Staying relevant to your customers: Jennifer Griess, a member of the SAS Executive & Sales Communications team, discusses how retailers can retain customers in an era of unparalleled retail choices. When it comes to marketing, “we’ve got to look at how we can do things differently, how we can monetize and use new data sources,” said Jim Davis, senior vice president and chief marketing officer at SAS. “It’s not just about being good enough, it’s about being much better than your competition and making sure that the experience you provide your customer exceeds that of your competition.” Read more of Will your customers choose you or lose you?

Using data visualization to stop cybercrime: Cyberthreats have evolved beyond small-time hackers into coordinated attacks by organized cyber criminals. And now many organizations are using advanced analytics and data visualization technologies to detect and predict attacks, explained Ellen Joyner-Roberson, fraud and financial crimes principal marketing manager for SAS. Advanced analytics and data visualization "help employees who aren’t data scientists or analysts to ask questions of the data -- based on their own business expertise -- to quickly and easily find patterns, spot inconsistencies, even get answers to questions they haven’t yet thought to ask." Read more of Data visualization meets cyber crime.

Making analytics more approachable: Natalie Osborn, senior solutions architect for SAS Institute’s Hospitality and Travel practice, shared how organizations can make analytics more approachable with data visualizations. "Data visualizations enable non-technical users to experience and share 'aha moments' with an impact unmatched by static graphs, spreadsheets or reports. They allow a user to move from simply collecting and reporting data to deriving business insights from that data. Advanced data visualizations can support more in-depth and complex analytics." Read more of Making analytics more approachable with data visualization.

Using data to cure disease and improve health outcomes: You've probably heard of the three big-data V's -- volume, velocity, and variety. But there are two more V's emerging that will have a direct relation to healthcare, noted SAS Corporate Communications Manager Becky Graebe. "Value is increasingly important with multiple stakeholders who place different value on the data gathered. For instance, the value of the data from a patient’s glucose monitor is different for the doctor, the device manufacturer and the patient. Validity is also an important consideration as accuracy and completeness factor huge in decision-making." Read more of What is the future of big data in health care?.

I lost won on Jeopardy: What could be more useful than strategies to win on a popular game show? Hear how Roger Craig “reverse engineered the game of Jeopardy!” to increase his probability of answering questions correctly -- and won the Jeopardy Tournament of Champions. " 'I’ll admit it. I guess I was a little obsessive about my Jeopardy! preparation,' he joked." Read more of Engineered to win at Jeopardy! -- and watch the video below.

Speaking of patterns and cybercrime, reminds me of the keifer sutherland series called touch. I guess even the employees without data science training with other expertise should be able to spot meaningful patterns to catch cybercrime.

My husband, a broadcaster, was in a Thanksgiving day parade and Alex was the master of ceremonies. At a luncheon afterward he walked over to see the baby. He asked if he could hold her and did-- to the point I thought I would never get her back!

While 97% of insurers say that insurance fraud has increased or remained the same in the past two years, most of those companies report benefits from anti-fraud technology in limiting the impact of fraud, including higher quality referrals, the ability to uncover organized fraud, and improve efficiency for investigators.